


Something Sweet

by mtndewcodered



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, that's all :), tooth-rotting perhaps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-23 09:48:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23009569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtndewcodered/pseuds/mtndewcodered
Summary: Tonight is the first night that Noel will babysit his boyfriend's daughter on his own.
Relationships: Cody Ko/Noel Miller
Comments: 9
Kudos: 86





	Something Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> this is a sequel to my fic [pink in the night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21433942), and it's purely self-indulgent.

“You know I won’t be back until way later, right? Are you sure you can handle watching her without-” Cody pauses to take a breath and figure out how to put on his tie without using a mirror. Noel takes notice of his boyfriend’s struggle, walking over to Cody to help him. He gets it tied in only seconds, and Cody notes his own envy from Noel’s many talents- adding _being able to tie a god damn tie in seconds flat _to the ever-growing list. Silently, Cody thanks Noel with a kiss, and pulls back with a smile. Noel is positive he stops breathing for a moment every time he catches a glimpse of that smile, and he would’ve pulled Cody back in for another kiss if Cody wasn’t in such a rush to leave.__

__Rather than kissing him, Noel holds Cody’s face gently between his hands and says, “We’ve been together for months now, you gotta have a little more faith in me, man.” Something that could be described as reluctance appears in Cody’s eyes. Noel moves his thumb across Cody’s cheek to comfort him. For the most part, it works, it always does, and Cody nods._ _

__“You’re right,” Cody says, stepping back from Noel, “I do trust you. I’ve never been away from her for an entire night. Guess I’m just scared, is all.” He shrugs after. In fact, Cody doesn’t remember the last time he has ever been away from his daughter for more than a few minutes. He’s dreading that something terrible will happen if he isn’t with her._ _

__“Don’t be- you should be having fun tonight. It’s a wedding. If anything happens, you know I’ll call you immediately. Besides, you know I’m already the best dad Lily could ever have. You’ve told me before, remember?”_ _

__Cody sighs, annoyed. Noel can tell he doesn’t like his own words being used against him. “We’ll see if that’s true after tonight.”_ _

__Noel mentions Cody having to put his trust in him again. Cody retaliates with Noel’s previous apprehensiveness towards children before Cody had one of his own. Noel still feels the same way about most kids, besides Lily, of course. Cody calls her his daughter, too, now. He wasn’t going to fuck it up after the very first night of watching her by himself. And damn him, if he wasn’t going to let Cody have a good night with friends he hasn’t gotten to spend any time with since Lily was born. He’s been looking forward to this night since Cody got the invite._ _

__“Alright, it’s almost four, I should get going.”_ _

__Noel catches the way Cody’s eyes glance down the hallway, where Lily’s room is. The little girl is sleeping right now, and neither one of them wanted to disturb her. She would be waking up soon, anyway. Cody mentions how they need to start putting her on an actual sleep schedule, as should they, especially as they start getting back to regularly posting videos. Noel keeps putting it off, maybe on purpose._ _

__“You better have fun,” Noel tells Cody. He fixes his tie again, making it a bit tighter so it stays in place. Cody thanks him, adding how he’ll try to relax at the party._ _

__Cody smooths out the jacket of his tux once more, although Noel knows he’ll spill champagne on it later._ _

__“Love you,” Cody says before tilting his head back slightly to silently ask for a kiss, despite their almost nonexistent difference in height. Even so, Noel kisses him, soft and slow. He feels Cody smiling against his mouth as Noel moves to wrap his arms around Cody._ _

__“Love you too.”_ _

__Cody seems content, although Noel is sure Cody is still feeling extremely anxious about not being able to be with his daughter for the rest of the night. Noel provides his boyfriend a few more words of comfort just before Cody leaves. They exchange one last 'I love you' before Cody shuts the door, it echoes from the sudden silence of the apartment, making Noel cringe slightly.__

____The echoing must’ve been loud enough to make its way into Lily’s room, because the little girl immediately starts crying. It could also be her beginning to have nightmares, as Cody mentioned at her age children start processing their dreams, to which Noel questioned what the fuck babies even dream about. Cody said a majority of them probably feature the both of them, which is cute, when they’re not nightmares. Cody is usually the one to get up in the middle of the night to comfort Lily when she does have nightmares, and Noel sometimes joins to give Lily his emotional support._ _ _ _

____Right now, though, Cody isn’t here to comfort her. So Noel makes his way to Lily’s room by himself. The light is already on, and Noel is immediately met with Lily standing in her crib, hands tight around the bars and pulling at them, as if that would get her out of it. Noel hates that he finds amusement in her struggle._ _ _ _

____“Hey, baby girl,” Noel says as he picks her up. He presses a kiss to her head that’s full of light brown hair, courtesy of her dad. It’s messy and tangled and sticking to her face due to the tears running down her puffy cheeks. “I’m sorry we woke you up, baby,” he continues while bouncing her in his arms. Lily continues crying as she presses her face against Noel’s shoulder, although her cries become softer as each second passes of Noel holding her._ _ _ _

____“Dada?” Lily asks through her tears. She lifts herself up in Noel’s arms, looking at him with snot running from her nose. Noel gets a small blanket to clean off her face._ _ _ _

____“He’s not here right now, sweetheart, I’m sorry. You’re stuck with just me for tonight.”_ _ _ _

____Lily only stares at him while tears continue rolling down her cheeks. Noel wipes them away. “Dada,” she repeats, softer this time. She leans back into Noel’s chest. Noel doesn’t know if the name was for him or Cody. They haven’t come up with a name for Lily to call Noel, although Cody’s mentioned ‘papa’ a few times, but Noel doesn’t know how comfortable he is with the title quite yet._ _ _ _

____“He’ll be here before you know it. Are you hungry, baby?”_ _ _ _

____Lily nods, smearing her spit and tears all over Noel’s shirt in the process. Not that Noel minds, exactly, he’s glad he doesn’t have to guess what Lily wants anymore, and can easily ask her as long as she knows the difference between certain things like food, or when she needs to be changed._ _ _ _

____“Let’s go make dinner. Do you want to help me?”_ _ _ _

____Noel is usually the one to make dinner for all three of them. He’s never thought to ask Lily to “help” him before, though. Cody gets worried about her playing near the kitchen. Tonight, however, Noel grabs a chair from the kitchen table and sets it behind the counter so Lily can stand on it. “Promise you won’t fall, or daddy will kill me,” Noel tells Lily. She only smiles at him, and if that isn’t the cutest thing in the world. It settles some of Noel’s nerves about letting her stand on a chair by herself. He adds, “Don’t tell him, either.”_ _ _ _

____Her eyes are still glossy, but Lily giggles and claps her hands._ _ _ _

____“What should we make, baby?” Noel asks, although he doesn’t expect to get any response in return, beside Lily clapping again. He gives their fridge and cupboards a once-over before deciding on white cheddar mac and cheese. It’s one of the few things that Lily would eat with little defiance. Noel quickly gets out the ingredients and sets them on the counter, just out of Lily’s reach._ _ _ _

____“We’re going to make macaroni and cheese. One of your favorites, right?”_ _ _ _

____The words ‘macaroni and cheese’ seem to register with Lily, as her eyes light up a bit upon hearing Noel speak them._ _ _ _

____“First we need to get water into a pot,” Noel tells Lily while he gets a pot from one of the cupboards, and sets it into the sink, underneath the faucet. “I think you can help me with this part.”_ _ _ _

____Lily eagerly lifts her arms up so Noel can pick her up from the chair. He holds her over the sink, enough so she can reach the handle of the faucet. “Okay, turn on the water, baby,” Noel tells her. Lily grips one handle of the faucet and pushes it toward herself so the water shoots on at a high speed that ends up splashing her. She laughs, and it almost sounds like screeching. Noel hushes her although he too was laughing slightly. He turns down the water so it isn’t bouncing off the pot and hitting the both of them. Once the pot is filled with enough water, he tells Lily to turn the water back off. “Good job, Lily!” he says and lifts her back up into his arms. He holds one hand up so Lily can give him a high-five. She happily obliges, hitting her hand against Noel’s._ _ _ _

____Noel has Lily stand on the chair again so he can set the pot of water onto the stove. Lily ends up sitting on her knees while she waits. “Now we have to let the water get really hot, so we can put the noodles in.” Noel grabs the bag of dry macaroni to prove his point, and lets Lily touch them._ _ _ _

____He lets Lily play with some of the macaroni until the water starts to boil. “Do you hear the water bubbling?” He pauses as Lily listens. “That means it’s ready.”_ _ _ _

____Noel measures out some of the noodles before putting them into the pot._ _ _ _

____Both him and Lily make the cheese sauce. Lily does the mixing of it after Noel’s finished melting it._ _ _ _

____Noel turns his back away from Lily for a moment as he drains the water from the pot of noodles. It results in Lily yelping and Noel almost dropping the pot into the sink as his heart rate spikes and he turns around immediately, worryingly setting the pot down. “Baby?” He questions, coming over to Lily and seeing her holding up her hand, staring at one of her fingers. It’s slightly red on the tip of it._ _ _ _

____“Oh, shi- _shoot _,” he corrects himself, still not entirely used to Cody’s rule of not using swear words even after all this time, “Did you touch it?”___ _ _ _

______Lily nods._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Does it hurt still?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______She nods again and her lip starts trembling. “Oh, baby, you don’t need to cry. It’s okay.” He lifts her up into his arms, and Lily wraps her arms around his neck tightly, and she buries her face into the crook of his neck. “It’s okay,” he repeats as he rubs her back in attempts to calm her down, but her shoulders start shaking and she silently begins to cry._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Here, baby, I’ll finish making the rest of our food. Do you wanna color at the table? Let’s do that,” Noel says. Lily sniffles._ _ _ _ _ _

______Noel gets Lily situated at the kitchen table after calming her down. She has a piece of paper and a few crayons in front of her to keep her company. Noel also puts on music for her, which is a Disney soundtrack that he has already heard enough by now, but whatever keeps his daughter happy._ _ _ _ _ _

______His _daughter _. Noel can’t help the stupid smile that makes its way onto his face while he goes back to finishing making dinner. When he’s done, the smile comes back when he watches Lily’s face light-up again upon seeing the macaroni on her own plate. She’s starting to get picky when it comes to sharing with Cody and Noel. Lily drops the blue crayon that she was previously drawing with in order to pick up the small, plastic fork that’s on her plate, and stabs at the small noodles. Noel sits beside her, and quickly takes a bite of the food to make sure it isn’t too hot for Lily to eat. After deciding it’s okay, he can finally relax.___ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily takes a bite all by herself. She looks delighted._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Is it yummy?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily nods and stabs more macaroni onto her fork._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They finish dinner with a Frozen song playing in the background, amidst Noel’s practically one-sided conversations. Cody tells him it’s good to always talk to her, regardless if she replies or not in any way._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What now?” Noel asks as he’s cleaning off their dishes. “We still have a while until daddy gets back.” It’s only been about two and a half hours since Cody had left._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily babbles as she finishes coloring. She holds up the drawing to show Noel. “What’d you draw, baby?” It looks like circles and scribbles, nothing exact. Noel would certainly still call it a masterpiece, and if Cody were here, he’d probably be praising his daughter and have already hung it up on the wall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily points to one of the circles, an orange one with a messy scribble through it. “Dada.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“That looks exactly like him, baby. You’re an amazing drawer- the next Picasso, probably,” Noel talks to Lily as he grabs a purple crayon and writes ‘Daddy’ next to the scribbles that Lily had pointed to. “What else did you draw?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily points to another scribble, that looks somewhat like a square. “Me,” she says. Then she points to herself, finger jabbing at her own chest._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“That’s Lily?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily nods and picks up a crayon to start scribbling down lines again. Meanwhile Noel writes ‘Lily’ next to the almost-square. There’s one more circle, toward the center of the paper that Lily points at. She taps it a few times. Then, she points to Noel. The object she drew is next to ‘Cody’. “You drew me?” Noel asks her, in some sort of disbelief._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily stares at him. She nods. It’s like she’s telling Noel, well, obviously._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“That’s- that’s awesome. Daddy’s gonna love it. We should put it on the fridge so he can see it when he gets back home.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Lily drops her crayon and starts climbing out of her chair. She takes heavy but quick steps to the kitchen. Noel prays that she wouldn’t trip and fall on her way as he figures out what name he should put next to the blob that’s supposed to be him. He almost writes ‘Papa’, but decides on just ‘Noel’. Noel makes a mental reminder to talk to Cody about that later, but for now, he takes the drawing and walks to the fridge. Grabbing one of the few magnets on the fridge, Noel attaches Lily’s drawing onto it. It’s the only thing that’s on their fridge beside a photobooth picture of all three of them taken at Disneyland. Noel pauses for a moment to look at it, and he thinks it may be the happiest he’s ever seen Cody in a picture. And Cody takes a lot of pictures nowadays. Most of the time they always feature Lily and Noel, but they’re saved on his laptop and in SD cards that aren’t used for their videos. If Cody could, he’d adorn their home with nothing but pictures of their small family. Noel tells him to start with the hallways and the fridge. The photobooth picture shows the beginning of that._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________A tugging on Noel’s leg from Lily pulls his eyes away from the picture. He smiles at her, and the toddler holds her arms up so signal she wants Noel to pick her up. Noel happily obliges, picking Lily up, squeezing her gently into a hug. “How about we watch a movie?” Noel asks Lily. He holds Lily in one arm while he uses his free hand to brush Lily’s hair back, and then kisses the side of her head. Lily doesn’t nod or shake her head, and Noel takes it as a yes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He puts on a Disney movie that he is fairly certain Lily has yet to see. Lily is immediately captivated by the bright colors on the screen and climbs onto the couch. She cuddles into the cushions. Noel sits beside her and pulls out his phone, seeing that Cody had texted him not too long ago. He’s asking how him and Lily are doing, if she is even awake._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The couch cushions shift slightly, and Lily is suddenly crawling into Noel’s lap, laying across his legs. Noel replies to Cody’s text by sending him a picture of his- no, their daughter- cuddled up to him. Cody only takes a few minutes to respond. 'Miss you guys', he says. Noel sends, 'We miss you' too before tossing his phone to his side, letting it bounce onto the couch._____ _ _ _

____________Noel is only partly watching the movie, more focused on Lily. He listens to her giggle whenever the characters in the movie would yell or tell a joke, and Noel cracks a smile each time she does._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Once the ending nears, and Lily’s attention span has more or less depleted, Noel finds himself having grown immensely tired. He’s been up since nine in the morning helping Cody get ready, and having to convince him to show up to the wedding at all, and he still has to get up early tomorrow to edit._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Carefully, he moves his legs, making Lily jolt up and look at Noel, startled. “Shoot, were you about to fall asleep?” Noel asks, lifting her from his legs so he can move them freely. “Daddy might get upset with me if you’re still up by the time he gets home.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Lily starts sucking on her thumb, a sign that she is indeed tired. “Yeah, you’re tired. Let’s go to your bed, alright?” Noel tells the toddler, already moving to stand up and bring her along with him. Lily responds by shouting 'no', another new word she’s started to pick up. Even so, Noel pauses and looks at her, slightly surprised.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Okay, okay. We’ll stay out here, together.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________They end up falling asleep on the couch, Lily laying on Noel’s chest, her little arms wrapped around his torso as much as she could manage. She’s drooling onto his shirt and her hair is still an absolute mess. But they could deal with that tomorrow._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Cody doesn’t see them at first, when he gets back home. He leaves his shoes by the door and takes off his jacket and the god awful tie that unloosened throughout the night and couldn’t bother to fix it without it being Noel to help him with the task. When he sets his jacket across the back of the couch is when he sees his boyfriend and daughter sleeping, a drying puddle of drool on Noel’s shirt but Noel still looks as peaceful as ever._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He leaves for a moment, going to their bedroom to change, and then to the kitchen. He sees the chair behind the counter that Noel had forgotten to put away. Cody knows it was used for Lily to stand tall enough to reach above the counter. He sees the dishes in the sink and the strainer left by it, also forgotten. He sees the crayons left on the table, scattered across it. Cody leaves everything as is, far too tired to clean it up. He puts it off for tomorrow morning, something to do before Lily wakes up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The new piece of paper on the fridge catches Cody’s eye before he can head out of the kitchen. He can tell it’s a drawing of Lily’s, given by the fact that it’s nothing but colorful scribbles and shapes. The only thing he can really make out is Noel’s handwriting, seeing their names printed next to three different shapes on the paper. Cody’s heart swells upon realizing it’s Lily’s interpretation of their own family portrait. _'Lily, Daddy, Noel' _.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Cody grows a bit confused upon seeing Noel’s name there, finding it slightly strange that Noel didn’t give himself a title, but wrote ‘Daddy’ instead of ‘Cody’._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Remembering the mess of crayons on the table, Cody quickly gets one, a blue one, and writes underneath Noel’s name: Papa. He adds a small heart beside it and colors it in. Satisfied, Cody puts the crayon down. Lily, Daddy, Papa. Their little family. If Cody were to stare at it for any longer, he would tear up. Instead, he makes his way back to where Noel and their daughter were sleeping._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________He squats beside the couch so he is able to kiss Lily’s forehead. “Goodnight, sweetheart,” Cody whispers to her. His thumb gently caresses her cheek._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Cody can’t help the stupid smile on his face when he looks at Noel. He tells him 'thank you', despite knowing Noel won’t hear him. “Goodnight,” he adds afterwards. He doesn’t wake them up, to get them off the couch and into bed. They look comfortable enough as it is, being with one another.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________The following morning, Cody is awoken by the sounds of his and Noel’s own voices. Balling one of his hands to a fist, he rubs at his eyes as he turns around to face Noel’s side of the bed. “What’re you doin’?” His words slur as he speaks to Noel._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“Watchin’ a video, making sure we can upload it. You’ve mentioned Lily more than eleven times already,” he says, laughing quietly after._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“They’re gonna be so fed up with me. She’s all I ever talk about,” Cody says while he scoots closer to Noel, throwing one of his arms around the other man’s waist. He presses his face into Noel’s side, breathing in his scent. He smells of his cologne and their body wash that’s starting to run low._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Noel shakes his head. “Nah, I think they love it. At least, I know I do.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Cody tells him to shut up, but it’s muffled. Noel does something close to a giggle as he feels Cody’s breath hitting his skin through his thin shirt._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Once the video has ended, and Noel is satisfied with the final result, he sets the laptop aside. With the laptop off Noel’s chest, Cody moves so his head is laying on Noel instead. His arms move to hold Noel as close to him as he could. He’s glad Noel never mentions how clingy he can be, especially in the morning._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“So, I saw what you wrote on Lily’s drawing.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Cody opens his eyes that had started to flutter close again. “Oh. Was… is that okay with you? I just thought, since you wrote ‘daddy’ for me, I thought you should also have a name for Lily to call you, too.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________He can’t see Noel’s face, he’s worried that maybe he was going too fast. Maybe Noel wasn’t ready to have Lily start calling him some variation of ‘dad’._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________But then Noel says, “No, no. I- I wanted to talk to you about that. Last night, when it was just me and Lily, I kept calling her my daughter. And I was like, damn, she’s actually my _daughter _. I know you already call her my daughter. But this was all unconscious shit, you know? I’d just look at her and think, 'that’s my daughter'.”_______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Yeah. I think I get it.” Cody’s never really had the option to call Lily his daughter or not._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Nice. Cool. We just haven’t talked about her calling me anything. Sometimes she calls me by what she calls you, but that seems weird. I was going to write ‘papa’ instead of my name on the drawing she made, but, yeah. Decided against it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“If you want her to call you that, we can start trying to teach her. She’s just as much your daughter as she is mine. You know that, right?” Cody asks. He moves one of his hands to Noel’s chest, running it along his covered skin as a means of comforting him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“I do.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Cody knows Noel isn’t a hundred percent confident in his answer, but they’ll work on it until he is. “Good. Now, I gotta get up to clean the mess you left in the kitchen.” Cody pats Noel’s chest twice before climbing out of their bed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“I was gonna get to that,” Noel says, following Cody._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Come help me then, 'papa'.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Noel rolls his eyes. “Don’t start,” he says as he reaches out for Cody’s hands, pulling Cody and him together and kissing him, slow and lazy. Noel pulls back first, and Cody is left in a daze._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> hope this was as cute as i thought it was. i haven't been feeling too well lately so i decided to treat myself to writing more for this little universe i came up with :)


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